Actually, talking about my event packed life is a good segway into what I actually want to write about. I do not sound like I'm living in a country at war for the past 5 years.
War and country.
As I have noted in other posts, I am in a strange position in regards to American politics. I am not American, but almost everything I have come to know and love in my adult life is American. I have lived in this country for more than a decade, and as much as I call San Francisco my home, I am not at ease as a resident alien. I have never supported the Iraq War, and I abhor the political machine that lied and manipulated its way to make that a sad reality. But recently, I am starting to get angry at how disjointed war and country has become. If you walk around the USA not knowing the country has been at war, you would never guess that well, it has been. Other than perhaps the small towns that a lot of soldiers come from that is.
As much as I don't believe in the reasons for going to war, the fact is, the country I have been living in and paying taxes to HAVE BEEN at war. TWO wars even. But I don't feel a lick of the shadow in my life. Lately even the headlines have shifted entirely away from what's going on in the frontlines, or worse, what life has been to the people and families in the military who has been shouldering the entire war effort almost alone, and silently alone. It is a shameful, immoral business.
Bob Herbert wrote a column about the invisible wounds of the war:
"However one feels about the nation’s war policies, we have an ironclad obligation to look out for the short- and long-term needs of the troops we send off to combat. In the absence of any general call for sacrifice, it’s the least we can do. Right now we’re not even doing that."
Not only are Americans not doing that, it's not even being talked about. I tried to think about when the last time the war, or the soldiers in combat, have been a topic of substantial discussion amongst my friends. I could not actually think of any such time. It shocked and disgusted me a little.
Part of me thinks, well at least I have an excuse, this is not my country. But then I thought about HBO documentary Baghdad ER I saw a couple years ago. Did it matter that the people interviewed were American, and not Canadian? Did it even really matter what war they were in? Or that I did not agree with the reasons they were put there in the first place? No. Actually the fact that I thought the war was not justified made me more compassionate for the soldiers who are sent to combat. What they live through everyday is real; even if I feel like they are pawns of a big stupid political game, that does not change the fact that their buddies die; that their limbs are amputated; that they have to decide when to shoot a civilian car that refused to stop. If they were fighting for something concrete, it seemed like it would at least be worthwhile. When they are fighting for something they are not sure about, only clinging to an abstract idea that "whatever they are doing will better the region", "it is for the love of country", it just breaks my heart. All these young men and women with good and honorable intentions, being put into morally ambiguous and tactically impossible situations, all the while leaving their families and homes for 15 months at a time, and many are in their 4th tours of duty.
If I lived in a small town, all of these people going away could very well be my friends. Instead, since I live in San Francisco in a nice income bracket, I am having a fabulous dinner party with my friends instead and talk about anything but the war.
Perhaps I got sentimental about this when I saw the Canadian Reserves helping out at the Dragonboat festival in Vancouver. I couldn't help but think about what kind of world it would be, if American reserves were able to do that kind of event again; instead of setting up tents for the Racer Village, they are, and will be for a long time, setting up tents in the desert.
Last time I felt this way, I think it was after watching Baghdad ER, I wanted to do something about it. I found this site called Treats for Troops, which lets one send a care package to individual soldiers or whole units. On the newsletter page, they told a story about the medical unit of the Alaskan National Guard being mobilized and they would love to receive packages because they would be so so far from home. This is the thank you letter they sent me via TfT:
"Dear Jane,
I am speechless. I never thought I'd be at a loss for words, but I can't begin to find the words to thank you enough. We have received your package through Treats for Troops, and thanks to you and the other kind sponsors we have more than enough goodies for everyone -- not only all the Medics in the BN, but quite a few other Soldiers who needed a lift from home benefited as well.
Absolutely amazing, and so much better than I had even dared to hope for. Please, PLEASE accept my most sincere thanks for making this happen. I wish you could all see the Medics\' faces... see the light in their eyes, and their huge smiles, when they lay their eyes on everything that was sent, and then get to pick & choose from the entire lot, for anything they want. Incredible!
Seeing my Medics smile causes an incredible feeling that I can hardly describe it. I honestly cannot thank all of you enough.
On behalf of all the Medics (and other Soldiers) in our Battalion, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Truly an incredible gift, and truly an incredible service that Treats for Troops provide.
Thank you so much.
Steven
"
I believe by now the Alaskan unit is home. So this time I got to send something to the 115th Combat Support Hospital that is based out of Fort Polk, Louisiana. I learned from a press release that they have just been deployed, and will be taking over the medical treatment for all detainees in Iraq, while training local Iraqi teams to do the same. The unit's motto is "Healing for Peace". I hope they will like the treats in the care package.
Maybe by keeping the 115th in my mind, it won't be as easy for myself at least to slip into that comfortable ignorance of what the other side of this country, and along with it the other side of this war is going through.
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